Category Archives: Addiction

• What can I wear today?
• Nothing fits
• Reading diet books
• Browsing diet articles
• Starting fads
• Quitting fads
• Cutting out carbs
• Cutting out sweets
• Not being able to move the way you like
• Being a bad example to your kids
• Avoiding bathing suits

Just worrying about it all the time – the mental energy can be overwhelming and very time consuming. One of the most difficult parts of dealing with long-term weight issues is feeling like nothing is going to work because nothing has. The thing to remember is nothing has worked yet.

If it was possible to read a book and follow a diet and lose weight permanently, then two-thirds of Americans would not be overweight. It is critical to re-wire the thinking process. You have to LEARN how to be a thin person. Now, think about that. If you had a brain that could stay on a good eating plan, you would have done that by now. That is why you have to be taught!

As a Skinny Coach, I teach people how to incorporate daily skills and cognitive behavioral techniques to literally change the way their brain is wired so that they simply become a person who eats like a Skinny Girl. It becomes second nature. It is not easy – my Skinny Girls write to me everyday, they commit their menus for the next day, they call me everyday to check in and we discuss struggles, ideas and strategies.

The reason nothing has ever worked is because it takes more than a good diet. It takes learning to think, learning the language and learning the thoughts of a Skinny Girl. A coach, a mentor, a support person, a teacher – whatever you want to call me – I am here DAILY to guide you in your journey to learn what you didn’t as a child – how to eat well, how to enjoy food, how to be thin and how to LIVE as a Skinny Girl.

If you think you might like to have the kind of support and guidance that I offer, then why don’t you schedule a call with me and we can talk.

I am sitting in the hospital and am amazed at the number of severely obese and overweight people. The surgery board is full of weight-related surgeries. I wonder what percent of surgeries are the consequence of people not being able to control what they put in their mouth? 100%? 90%? 10%? What do you think?

If you are over 45 years old, like I am, I am sure thoughts of health are becoming more relevant than issues of looks and vanity. The CDC says all overweight people compared to normal weight people are at an increase for “All causes of death.” ALL! Lets see – high blood pressure (meds until death), high cholesterol (meds until death), type 2 diabetes (meds until death), stroke (physical and mental disabilities until death), gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, cancer, low quality of life, mental illness and body pain.

The Skinny Coach Solution is not only a good, healthy diet that has been recommended by many medical doctors, it offers the psychological support and emotional support to change your patterns by changing your brain. It really doesn’t matter how many diets you have tried, you have not tried one like this because it does not exist.

If you commit to being skinny, healthy and in control, then I as your Skinny Coach will be here for you to help you along the way. Every day we work together to keep you on the right path mental and physically. Sign up for a complimentary consultation and we can talk about what is going on with you and why you have struggled before. Most importantly, I can tell you what you can do now to change your health forever.

Turns out that when you reward your children with food it can trigger emotional eating when they grow up – DUH!

While most parents try to keep their children from eating bad foods they also often reward good behavior or ease pain with these exact foods and it has been shown concretely from research at both Loughborough and Birmingham universities that children were much more likely to emotionally eat later in their lives if their parents used food as a reward or to ease pain.

If you are an emotional eater can you remember instances in your childhood where your parents rewarded a good grade with a special dessert, or perhaps went for ice cream after a win in sports, how about a lollipop after a penicillin shot at the doctors (remember those?), the dentist even gave us candy after filling a cavity! I can think of many ways in which I was given food to placate or deal with bad AND good events and emotions so according to this research I am not surprised I am addicted to food.

The good news is perhaps we can do better for our children now that we know. Think of other ways to celebrate and comfort your children now before the moment happens so that you are equipped.

Now what about you? Is it too late? No, of course not, you can establish new connections, new patterns and change your relationship with food. Unfortunately, because emotional eating is so rooted and cemented in the neural connections of the brain it is nearly impossible to change on your own because you only have the brain you have – the one that currently makes those connections. ReWiring the brain to make new associations and habits, those of a healthy, skinny person requires someone to teach you these new ways of thinking – just like they were taught when you were young – by your parents – the Skinny Coach can teach you how to be skinny. It takes time, it takes dedication but it is doable, you just need to know how. Start by taking the Sugar Addiction Quiz and schedule a talk with the Skinny Coach and surrender to a little help.

Finally, what a relief, it has finally been proven by 80 experts – 80 experts involving a four-year long process that addiction is not a social or moral problem but a brain problem. Food addiction is a neurological problem. Addiction has been treated as a result of emotional problems, a result of trauma, a result of low moral character – and that is why addiction treatment does not work.

After over 20 years of neuroscience research we know that addiction is rooted in the brain’s reward circuitry. Previous experiences with food trigger cravings and to repeat the process because this is the part of the brain that controls impulses and judgement and it damage is permanent. Controlling this “craving” is literally over riding your brain chemistry. Distortions of cognitive and emotional function lead to compulsive need to intake more sugar It is NOT A CHOICE.

What is a choice is getting help. What kind of help can fix the neurological circuitry of the brain that is damaged? One thing we know for sure is abstinence is necessary. The only way to rewire the neural circuitry of the brain is to stop triggering the reward system. I understand that is easier said than done, I did it 20 years ago and I work with people every day to teach them the skills necessary to achieve abstinence and RE WIRE the neural circuitry – to fix the underlying neurological issue. Through a system of cognitive behavioral therapy and behavioral modification techniques, along with daily talks with me, we can get you off of sugar, healthy and, of course, get the weight off. If you would like to know if you are addicted to sugar take the Sugar Addiction Quiz and you can have a complementary cognitive therapy session with me to get you started.

The word addiction carries a lot of preconceptions. Most of us, when we hear the dirty word “addiction,” we think of a degenerate in a dark alley. One might be surprised at how widespread addiction truly is. Let’s discuss the addiction of a less obvious nature- sugar.

The definition of addiction is “a state characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences.” Broader than you might have imagined, isn’t it? When an alcoholic is “diagnosed” they are considered an addict for life. Even once they are off the alcohol, the call themselves a recovering addict. The reason is because they know that if they consume alcohol they will not be able to stop consuming, even if it hurts them. You’ll also find the literature on alcoholics state that they have a “disease” and they cannot help their lack of control in that area.

Now let’s talk about an addiction that is closer to home. Sugar addiction. When you eat sugar it lights up the same part of the brain as cocaine. Additionally, you are flooded with serotonin and other “feel good” hormones. You therefore, continue to consume the sugar because of the wildly enjoyable rewarding feeling that comes after you consume the sweets. As you continue doing this, repeatedly, day after day, you begin to feel the adverse consequences. You are tired, lethargic, sickly, and FAT. And yet, as shocking as it may seem, you (and your fat body) walk to the kitchen to consume more of this sickening and fattening drug.

You are addicted to sugar. You consume sugar regardless of the adverse consequences you experience. You can’t stop yourself. You have the disease known as sugar addiction. Just like if you were addicted to crack or alcohol you truly can never consume sugar again. As soon as you do you will lose control again! People say that as soon as you admit to yourself that you have a problem you can begin the road to recovery. Start your road to recovery now.

If you eat sugar, and you cannot control your intake, and you keep eating it after it has made you lethargic and fat, you are addicted. Don’t worry, now that you know, you can get help.

How many years have you wasted talking about, thinking about, planning about, starting diets and failing at losing weight. At which point will you say – I have a problem, I am an addict. I know that food addiction is a difficult subject but when you cannot control what you put in your mouth then you are … by definition, out of control – you are a food addict. More specifically addicted to sugar. The diagnostic manual for psychological disorders has diagnosed food addiction as a true addiction NOT a eating disorder. Why? Because sugar triggers the same neural transmitters as other drugs, like cocaine and heroin. It feel really good and comforting to eat sugar. It makes us feel comforted and it makes us feel good.

If you are at a place where you can’t do it on your own – a place where you have tried everything and nothing has worked then you might be ready to submit and let go of the sugar. Bottom line, we can’t all do everything on our own, sometimes we need help. I have spent my life committed to helping sugar addicts become Skinny Girls. Experience, training and commitment is what the Skinny Coach Solution offers you. I know this sounds like a sales pitch but it is NOT. This program is only for the woman who can see she is addicted to sugar, the woman that can’t stop on her own – even though you can do anything you set your mind to – this one thing you can’t get a handle on – the Skinny Coach Solution is designed to do just that – get you in control and offer you freedom.

I love – love – love my holiday Skinny Girls – the women committed enough to say YES! I want to be a Skinny Girl in December. Not January, with everyone else but in December a YES – I want to be a Skinny Girl. I am here for you. If you want to commit to yourself, I will commit to you. As always, every year, I offer a Skinny Girl Holiday special. If you are ready to talk, take the Sugar Addiction Quiz and set an appointment.

You will not have lose weight as your New Years Eve resolution every again. You will be in a sexy black dress drinking a glass of champagne next New Years Eve, you will never again feel out of control.

When people want to learn something they go to school to be taught by a teacher who is trained extensively on that which they wish to learn. When it is time to learn to drive you are instructed by your parents (people who have often been driving for decades.) When you want to learn a sport you are guided and trained by your couch. But, when a person wants to lose weight, suddenly it’s time to ‘pull up your boot straps’ and do it on your own. Why is that?

Weight loss, potentially one of the most difficult struggles that a person will ever encounter, is a job that people believe one should be able to accomplish on their own. It is unrealistic to think that this is something you can handle. If you are overweight it is because you never learned the proper skills to healthy eating, and/ or you do not have control over what you are eating. There are very specific foods and activities that will allow you to control your food intake more effectively. To learn what foods you can eat without binging, and to acquire the skills you’ll need to practice to get skinny and stay skinny you need to be TAUGHT! We aren’t born with this knowledge or these skills, and you do not have to feel bad or guilty for needing help. You need someone to rewire your brain, you currently have the brain of a fat person, you need a Skinny brain to be skinny.

Hiring Dr. Wright, the Skinny Coach, to help you with your weight loss will give you the support and education you need to succeed at your weight loss goals. In your skinny journey, you will have questions, you will make goals and commitments, and you will feel discouraged; it is during all of these times that having the Skinny Coach there anytime day or night, to help guide you through, that will ensure your success. You need help to rewire your brain and train you to think like a skinny person, you need to be trained to have correct eating habits, and you need to be taught the right foods for your body. Find out if you’re a sugar addict by taking this quiz or talk to Tiffany Wright, Skinny Coach, and see how she can coach you to success.

Ernest Noble at UCLA has linked a dopamine receptor that is linked to alcohol, cocaine and nicotine addiction to refined carbohydrates as well. When I was 100 pounds overweight trying every possible diet and failing, I wish I had know that any diet that included refined carbs was guaranteed to fail me and keep me fat. It is like an alcoholic drinking occasionally – PLEASE! It is well-known that abstinence is the only solution for addiction and guess what – food addiction is no different.

Most are still convinced that fat people lack willpower or that talking about food addiction is removing responsibility. It is not the case. Yes, once we know the solution we have to take responsibility and abstain from the drug of choice. But until recently, this was not an option because the information was not out there, and frankly it still isn’t. There are not many program options for compulsive overeaters. Skinny Coach is one, Overeaters Anonymous another – but the diet industry is still talking about moderation. MODERATE? Really? If I could moderate I would not have been 100 pounds overweight. If my Skinny Girls could moderate they would not have not been on the phone crying to me that they could not stand being out of control. If they could moderate, people would not hire me out of desperation because they need my help. If they could moderate they would have.

Skinny Coach is an option, Overeaters Anonymous is another, but the diet industry is still talking about moderation. MODERATE? Really? If I could moderate I would not have been 100 pouds overweight. I’m not the only one who struggles with that; I hear the stores from my Skinny Girls about feeling out-of-control. If people could moderate, would there be so many obese people in the U.S.? The difference is that I’ve found the solution.

Another lie the diet industry has everyone believing is that you have to have a little bit of everything or you will feel deprived. That is the one of the most childish claims I have heard. Only with food is this position espoused. No one can have everything that they want, and if they are mature they learn to live with limitations. Some people have physical handicaps; some people can’t live in the city or neighborhood that they want; some people can’t go to the college of their choice – and some people can’t eat whatever they want.

We now know that the brain of the food addict is predisposed to respond differently to refined foods due to dopamine receptor deficiencies. Eating the refined, addictive foods stimulate the release of neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin resulting in euphoria. The problem is the euphoria is short-term and tolerance builds, which leads to more weight gain and more out-of-control behavior. If your eating is out of control, if you are always starting a diet and eventually failing, if your pants no longer fit, if you are dreading the upcoming holidays because you have nothing to wear and you know you will gain another 10 pounds, if you are bloated, sick, tired and hopeless, you now have a solution. You have the answer now it; is a matter of taking responsibility. Denial is not an option anymore.

If you have questions or want to talk about whether you may have an unhealthy physical attachment to foods like sugar and flour please fill out the Skinny Coach quiz and I will call you for a free 1 hour nutritional consultation and tell you about the one easy, healthy secret that will help your lose belly fat.

I would really appreciate your comments below. Ask me any diet related question or let me know what you would like to know more about.

If you read this article and could forward it to a friend you could really help them out.
Most importantly, if you are struggling and need help all you have to do is email me at tiffany@skinnycoach.com and I’ll set up a complementary session with you to pinpoint your triggers and help you with ways to deal with them. You don’t have to struggle with your weight and health. I can help you.

"My husband is thrilled that I've found a plan I can stick with and that's working so well. He says it's miraculous -- I look just like the girl he married!"

-Kathleen

"I lost 16.6 lbs in 28 days plus 21 ¾ inches my first month!"

-Genevieve

"I lost 15 inches my first month and am just so happy that I don't have to worry about what to eat anymore. Following the Skinny Coach plan is so simple, even in times of travel, sickness and holidays."